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When Janet Killian began her commercial cleaning company 30 years ago, she started from scratch.

She had found success cleaning homes, but an elbow injury kept her from continuing the work. She went to work as an administrative assistant but wanted to get back to the field where she found success working for herself. She couldn’t do the cleaning, but she could hire and train people to work for her. She founded her own company, Gemini Janitorial Services.

In the beginning, it was small. Killian held a full-time job as she worked nights and weekends to establish her brand. Today, she has about 90 employees.

“It starts with hard work and perseverance. Feel good about the person you are, and you can achieve anything,” said Killian, who is president of Gemini. “But it starts with you. Don’t let anyone dissuade you from your path.”

Killian is the winner of this year’s Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year, an event organized by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce. She will be honored at the 24th annual Entrepreneurial & Business Women’s Expo in November at the University of Delaware’s Clayton Hall.

Slow growth helped Killian establish deep roots in Delaware. Killian, who works out of a New Castle County-based office at 14 Ashley Place, said she prioritized a reputation for quality, responsiveness and long-lasting relationships with clients. Her first client, local construction firm George & Lynch, remains a customer.

“I think what makes us different from other janitorial companies is we are the home base. So, when you call Gemini you get Gemini,” Killian said.

All of Killian’s jobs are in the commercial sector, which largely entails janitorial services in offices.

Nationally, the cleaning industry, both commercial and residential, is a $35 billion sector, and the janitorial services industry consists of about 50,000 companies, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. “The industry is fragmented: the 50 largest companies generate about 30 percent of revenue,” according to a 2012 report from SBDCNet, which tracks industry trends for the Small Business Administration.

When Killian began, in the 1980s, she found another challenge: She was entering a business sector largely run by men. She wasn’t out on the golf course with them to build relationships, she said.

“It was just very difficult to break through that glass ceiling, but it is happening, finally,” she said.

Killian is a mentor and supporter of the Fresh Start Scholarship Foundation. The program, which was established by Wilmington Women in Business, assists women with education and coaching to be successful in the workforce.